From left: Adam Leitman Bailey, Julius Schwarz, executive vice president of the Bayrock Group, Sapir Organization CEO Alex Sapir and the Trump Soho

Ten Trump Soho buyers are getting a 90 percent refund on their deposits
after filing a suit against the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization
alleging they misrepresented sales figures (note: corrections appended). The New York Post reported that a federal lawsuit filed by the buyers against the building’s sponsors was settled yesterday, and they will get 90 percent of the $3.16 million in deposits they combined to have put down on $16.914 million worth of apartments. The buyers claim to have been told as many as 60 percent of the units were sold, when at the time just 16 percent of the hotel-condo units in the building, at 246 Spring Street, were actually sold. Adam Leitman Bailey represented the buyers. [more]

From left: Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund and Raphael De Niro, Prodigy Network’s Rodrigo Nino and Trump Soho

After months of speculation, Prudential Douglas Elliman officially got in on the marketing act at Trump Soho, according to Real Estate Weekly. The Real Deal previously reported the hotel-condominium’s developers and lenders were considering replacing the current Prodigy Network-led team with Elliman brokers. According to Real Estate Weekly, Elliman’s Raphael De Niro and Fredrik Eklund will “spearhead” the domestic sales effort for the unaccounted for apartments in the 346-unit tower, while keeping Prodigy in tow. According to Prodigy President Rodrigo Nino, 21 units have entered contract and 19 units have closed since the team unveiled lower prices in the Sapir Organization and Bayrock Group-developed building in late February. [more]

About 100 real estate professionals filed in to the Trump Soho’s lone duplex penthouse last week, to preview the building’s 11 new-to-the-market, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom penthouses, which range from $2.5 million to $8.7 million (see photo gallery above). Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were provided by the Quattro Gastronomia Italiana, a restaurant located inside Trump Soho. The 46-story building at 246 Spring Street, which was developed by the Sapir Organization and Bayrock Group, has 391 hotel-condo units. TRD [more]

From left: David Rockwell, Julius Schwarz, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho at 246 Spring Street

The developers of Trump Soho have entered a legal imbroglio against the
Rockwell Group, alleging in a new lawsuit that the interior design firm failed
to meet building codes and cost the property more than $1.5 million in
damages for delays and replacement costs to complete their work.

The complaint, filed this past Friday in New York state Supreme Court,
came just two days after Rockwell sued the Bayrock Group and Sapir
Organization, alleging the Trump Soho developers failed to pay for $1.5
million in interior design work at the building.

Bayrock/Sapir, which developed the 391-unit hotel-condominium at 246
Spring Street, contends the design firm placed furnishings too close to
light fixtures and provided interior construction documents that were out of
compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. [more]

When the developers of Trump Soho built the 46-story hotel-condo in Hudson Square, they were allowed to build 20 percent bigger than zoning would typically allow by vowing to build an 8,161-square-foot plaza. According to the Villager, one year after the building opened, the developers now want to take back some of that space for outdoor seating for the Quatro restaurant on the hotel’s ground floor. Trump Soho representatives presented the plan before Community Board 2, which plays an advisory role in the City Planning Commission’s decision, arguing that the plaza attracts little public use and the cafe would invite people into the public space. Comments

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[Updated 1:15 p.m., April 15, 2011 from a previous version of the story] Trump Soho hotel-condo recently entered discussions with a number of brokers, including Prudential Douglas Elliman, on a potential deal to replace Prodigy International, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Developers and lenders have been in furious discussion about how to revive sales at the luxury tower, located at 246 Spring Street, following a 2010 deal with Los Angeles-based CIM Group to recapitalize more than $295 million in debt.

When asked about this last week, Elliman declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Trump Soho denied the move. “There has been no change in the sales and marketing team,” the spokesperson said.
[more]

William Beaver House and Andre Balazs
Another iStar-backed Sapir Organization project is getting a shot in the arm from Los Angeles-based CIM Group. According to the Post, CIM has purchased the $60 million face-value loan on 209 unsold condominiums at the Financial District’s William Beaver House for an undisclosed price. It’s unclear whether iStar will maintain a stake in the project, designed by Andre Balazs at 15 William Street. Last week, CIM helped Sapir and partner Bayrock Group pay down iStar’s debt on their Trump Soho condominium-hotel. [Post] [more]

Donald Trump, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

The developers of the embattled Trump Soho condominium-hotel are offering to refund buyers as much as half of their deposits if they agree not to join a lawsuit that accuses them of “fraudulent misrepresentations and deceptive sales practices” at the 46-story Spring Street building, according to the Wall Street Journal. Only those buyers who haven’t yet closed would be eligible for the refund, though it is unclear how many have been offered. “They must think the fraud lawsuit has legitimacy and that they will
have to settle for more than 50 percent,” said attorney Pierre Debbas,
whose former client was offered a refund at the building. Or, he said,
the refunds could mean that the developers could be planning to convert
the entire project to a hotel. [more]

Tevfik Arif, the New York-based developer and chairman of the Bayrock Group, was arrested in Turkey this week in a helicopter raid on a luxury yacht and is being held at police headquarters as the suspected organizer of an international high-end prostitution ring, Bloomberg News reported. The Bayrock Group was a partner in the Trump Soho hotel and condominium, along with the Trump Organization and the Sapir Organization. Arif launched his U.S. career in 1996 with the development of a 280,000-square-foot waterfront shopping center in Brooklyn; now, Bayrock’s other projects include the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. An attorney for Arif, who is a Turkish citizen, said his client will “vigorously defend himself in any court of law” as he is the victim of a “smear campaign.” Nine others are also being held in custody in connection with the alleged prostitution scandal, in which men were said to have paid $3,000 to $10,000 per night to sleep with Russian and Ukrainian women from modeling agencies. Of the 10 women detained in the raid, two were below the age of 18, which is the legal age for sexual consent in Turkey. [Bloomberg]

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After a series of delays, the attorney general has given the go-ahead to Trump Soho, allowing the developers to proceed with closing deals, the developers of the condominium-hotel told The Real Deal.
“The offering plan for Trump Soho has just been declared effective,” said Jay Neveloff, a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, and the attorney for the sponsors, the Sapir Organization, Bayrock Group and an affiliate of the Trump Organization. “Closings can now commence.” The 391-unit, 46-story building at 246 Spring Street has faced a series of troubles since breaking ground in 2007.
Closings were supposed to begin by mid-April, The Real Deal reported in March.
[more]